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Turkish police have stormed Taksim Square in Istanbul and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors causing them to flee to neighbouring Gezi Park. The move is another sign that Prime Minister Erdogan's government intends to continue the crackdown against the protestors.

The Turkish Prime Minister has further threatened the protestors, saying he will "no longer show tolerance" and that "his patience has run out.".

Please sign the Labour Start petition supporting the protestors! Stop police violence - allow the protests!



The Council of Global Unions has urged Erdogan to begin “real dialogue” with the Turkish people and their representatives.

Read the statement here

Trade unionists in Turkey have joined a broad group of protestors which includes students and young people from the country’s growing middle class. Erdogan claims the demonstrations will die out but are in fact spreading across the country.

The spark for the mass demonstrations was the police crack down on activists defending Taksim Square and Gezi Park from developers. The historic site is earmarked for a shopping mall which critics say would be a blot on the landscape and not respect Turkish heritage.

The protestors took to Twitter to get their message to the outside world during a news black out over the demonstrations and police brutality. Erdogan described the micro-blogging site as a “menace” and a way of “disseminating lies”. More than 30 protestors have been arrested for using Twitter to alert the world to the crisis.

UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings has been engaging with thousands of the protestors on Twitter and offering UNI’s solidarity. Jennings said , “Twitter has given the Turkish protestors an international voice. When I discovered that CNN Turk was showing a documentary about penguins when people were being tear-gassed and beaten, I did my bit to get the message out to the world via Twitter. It was even picked up by Becky Anderson on CNN International. This is when social media comes into its own, when they try to shut down the airwaves of democracy. “



Jennings added, “I was able to act as a kind of de facto broadcaster during the blackout. 4000 new Turkish followers joined me on Twitter this week and the messages I was getting out were retweeted thousands of time – one tweet received 3,700 retweets. I’m staying engaged. UNI and its affiliates stand by Turkey. We were already alarmed at the overbearing police presence on May Day this year. Turkey is a country with backward looking labour laws that make it very difficult to organise and negotiate.”

Jennnings wrote on Twitter as the crisis broke last Saturday evening, “Overwhelmed by messages from Turkey where there is a news shutdown, local people think the world does not know, they do, Turkey not alone.”

Referring to CNN Turk’s initial decision to ignore the protests Jennings tweeted, “So first they hit you, then they gas you, then they arrest you, then they stop you tweeting, this is no life for a penguin, #turkeynotalone ”